Telephone-call-registering device.



V. THOMPSON.

TELEPHONE CALL REGISTERING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY22, 1916.

1,233,620. Patented July 17, 1917.

VICTOR THOMPSON, OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

TELEPHONE-CALL-REGISTERING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

Application filed May 22, 1916. Serial No. 99,094.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VICTOR THOMPSON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone-Call-Registering Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in telephone call registering devices, and the object of my invention is to provide a simple device by means of which a subscriber may buy long distance calls, as desired, which is adapted to register for the benefit of the telephone company, the amounts paid for such calls, and which provides for greater flexibility in the fixing of rates than is possible at the present time.

I attain this object by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of my device, the front of the casing being removed.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, taken on the line a?; of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the coin seat.

Fig. 4- is a fragmentary view showing the lower part of the coin chute.

The deviceillustrated in Fig. 1 is adapted for the sale of long distance calls costing 25, 10, or 5 cents each, and consists of a casing 1 divided into upper and lower compartments 2 and 3, the lower compartment serving as a collection box for the coins. Rotatably mounted in compartment 2 is a shaft at, provided with an operating handle 5, which handle, after being actuated, as hereinafter described, is returned to its normal position by means of a spring 6, which spring is connected to a pin 7 in the side of the handle and which pin operates in a slot 8 in the side of the casing, the length of the slot determining the travel of the handle and being sufiicient to permit of the coin seats, hereinafter mentioned, being moved from a normally vertical position to an inverted position.

9, 10 and 11 indicate coin seats, formed preferably as shown in Fig. 3, each of which is provided with suitable bearings 12 and 13, by means of which it is rotatably mounted on shaft 4. These coin seats are adapted to receive 25, 10 and 5 cent coins respectively when disposed in the normal vertical position directly below the discharge opening of the respective coin chutes 14, 15 and 16, which openings are just clear of the mouth of the respective coin seats, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, when the seats are in their normal position. The backs of the respective chutes are extended downwardly, as shown at 17 in Figs. 2 and 4, against which extensions the respective coin seats normally rest, as shown in Fig. 2. These extensions 17 are provided with openings 18, while corresponding openings 19 are provided in the coin seats. 20 indicates a counterweighted arm for returning the coin seat to, and maintaining it in, its normal position, each seat being provided with one such arm, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and particularly in Fig. 3.

Rotatably mounted on shaft 4 and free thereof are the registers 21, 22, and 23 of. any approved type, cotiperating respectively with the coin seats 9, l0 and 11, and each provided with ratchet teeth 2st with which a spring pressed pawl 25 carried by a pivoted mounted lever 26 engages, each respective lever 26 being actuated in one direction at a suitable point of the travel of its respective coin seat by a projection 27 carried thereby, and being returned to its normal position, after actuating the register, by a spring 28. Suitable windows, indicated at 29 in Fig. 2, are provided through which the registers may be seen at any time. Bells 30, 31, and 32 cooperating with the respective coin seats 9, 10 and 11, are mounted in compartment 2, each of which is provided with a suitably fulcrumed striking hammer 33, which hammer is provided with an extension 34, each of which extensions is adapted to be engaged and tripped by the projection 27 on its respective coin seat at each forward movement thereof and at a suitable point of its travel.

36, 37 and 38 indicate fingers secured to the shaft 1 and mounted centrally of the openings 17 of their respective chutes let, 15 and 16, and 18 of their respective coin seats 9, 10, and 11 so that, when the shaft 4L is actuated in a forward direction each finger will pass through the opening of its respective coin seat when the same is unoccupied, or engage a coin therein and carrying the seat around with it.

39, 40, and 41 indicate curved plates, disposed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that they will be just clear of their respective coin seats 9, 10 and 11 as these are carried around by the fingers and thus prevent the coins from dropping out of the seats until they are inverted, the length of each plate being, such that its extremity is clear of the inverted coin seat so that the coin may drop into the lower compartment through openings 42, 43 or 44 as the case may be. In order to momentarily lock each coin seat in its inverted position to insure the free discharge of the coin therefrom spring projections 45 are formed on the extremity of each plate 39, 40 and 41, over which cooperating projections 46 formed on each coin seat spring when the seat reaches its inverted position, and in order to free the respective seats from the respective projections 45. and assist their return to their normal position the fingers 36, 37 and 38 are provided with eX- tensions 47, 48 and 49 respectively, which extensions are longer than the fingers and adapted to strike their respective inverted coin seats when the shaft 4 and fingers 36, 37 and 3,8 are returning to their normal po sitions after the handle 5. is released. Pro.- jections 50 are provided adjacent the projections 45, asv shown in Fig. 2, to prevent the coin seats from traveling past their inverted positions.

Havingthus indicated the principal parts of my invention I will now describe the manner in which it operates; taking for the purpose of illustration a call, costing 25 cents. In use the device is placed adjacent the receiver. A subscriber desiring to make a long distance call takes the receiver off the hook and asks for the number in the usual way. WVhen the party called has been found, the operator directs the subscriber to place a 25 cent coin in the chute 14 until and pull the handle 5. The coin, dropping into coin seat 9, is engaged by finger 36 as it is rotated bythe operation of the handle. The finger thus carries the coin and the seat around until the seat is inverted, whereupon the coin drops out and falls through opening. 42 into the lower compartment 3, the traveling coin seat operating, by means of projection 27, the register 21 to indicate thereon the numerals 1, 2, 3, or as the case may be, and bell 30, and it will be apparent that, unless the bell sounds, the operator will not allow the subscriber to talk to the party called, the absence of the signal showing that the. required coin has. not been placed in the device. On the release of handle 5, the spring 6, returns it and the shaft 4 and finger 36 to their normal positions, the extension 47 striking, the inverted coin seat during such return movement and freeing it from the projection 45 0f plate 39, whereupon the counterweighted arm 20 swings the seat back to its normal position and maintains it at rest against the extension 17 of the chute 14.

The operation just described is the same with reference to 10 and 5 cent calls, the

' mechanism being the same in each case, from which it will be evident that the device is capable of being adapted for use with any number of coins of different denominations, that is to say, one such machine may have only one chute for the sale of 25 cent calls,

or it may be as shown in Fig. 1, or a machine may be built with a number of chutes capable of providing calls at 50, 25, 10, and 5 cents each, the mechanism being duplicated for each chute but operated by the one shaft.

It will also be evident that where a call costs more than the value of a coin of a set denomination, that is to say, for instance, 40 0 cents, then such a call can be obtained and paid for, in a machine as shown in Fig. 1, by placing 25, 10 and 5 cents in the'respective chutes, so that the operation of handle 5 inverts all the coin seats to discharge the 5, coins into the lower compartment 3. It will be seen further that the bells may be set to sound at different intervals during the travel of the respective coin seats, so that the operation of each seat may be clearly distinguished when more than one seat is being moved at the same time, as above described.

What I claim as my invention is:

A telephone call registering device, comprising a coin chute, a rotatably mounted shaft, a coin seat rotatably mounted on said shaft and normally disposed to receive a coin discharged from said chute, said seat being provided with a weighted arm on its lower end and having a projection on each side at its upper end, a finger secured tov said shaft. adapted to engage when rotated the coin occupying the seat so as to. carry the coin and seat toan inverted position, said finger being provided with an extension, means for rotating said finger, means for re turning the finger to its normal position, a suitably mounted register, an actuating lever therefor adapted to be operated by one of the projections aforesaid a curved plate disposed adjacent the path of said seat, the extremity of said plate terminating adjacent and clear of the mouth of the inverted seat and provided with a spring member adapted' to engage behind the other said projection when the seat reaches its inverted position, and a stop member against which the inverted seat engages.

Dated at Vancouver, B. (1, this 11th day of May, 1916.

V VICTOR THOMPSON.

7 Copies: of this patent. may be. obtained for five cents each, by addressing: the commi'ssioner ofi Bate-nts,

Washington, D. 0.. 

